Enrolling his three daughters in swimming lessons at the Midtown YWCA was something Natividad de Luna felt strongly about for a very important reason -- he never learned to swim himself.
"I wanted them to be able to save their own lives or maybe someone else's life in the water," said De Luna, who lives with his family in Minneapolis. "I also wanted them to learn to swim properly with all the techniques and know how to work with the water because Mother Nature can do anything out there."
The girls have all participated in the YWCA Swim for Change program. Their lessons began young, at age 5. Now Daniela, 10, and Mayela, 9, belong to the YWCA Otters Swim Team, which is a competitive program for swimmers ages 7 to 17 (older sister Gabriela is a former member).
Teaching all kids to be safe and confident in the water is a primary goal of Swim for Change. Drowning is a leading cause of death nationwide for ages 14 and under.
Over the past five years, people of color in Hennepin County have been twice as likely to drown as those who are white, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Ninety percent of the 2,000 young people who participated in a variety of YWCA programs last year were children of color and most, like the De Luna girls, come from families with parents who never learned to swim.
Luis Ramirez, a youth coordinator for the YWCA, works with Latino and Native American families who participate in a 12-month program targeting better health and fitness.
When it comes to swimming, Ramirez said, many parents tell him they want their children to have the confidence and skills around water that they never had.
"Many of the adults have fear about water," he said. "Since they don't know how to swim, they become very overprotective about their kids, but they also want them to be able to swim so the kids won't have that fear."
